This invention relates to a machine for washing, polishing and drying parts such as screw blanks which have been newly formed by a cold header or the like. Upon being discharged from the header, the screw blanks contain a coacting of greasy residue and are mixed with chips of various sizes and shapes. It is necessary to remove the residue and to separate the chips from the blanks before the blanks are subjected to other screw manufacturing operations such as slotting and threading.
With one prior arrangement, the screw blanks are carried in a basket adapted to be traversed above and then plunged upwardly and downwardly in a bath of hot cleaning solution. The basket then is plunged into a rinsing solution and thereafter is moved into a hot air drying area. Another prior arrangement utilizes an auger which conveys the screw blanks through a tube with the blanks first moving past a series of spray nozzles and then moving past hot air blowers. Still another way to wash and dry screw blanks is to wash the blanks in a vessel similar to that of a small cement mixer and then to transfer the blanks to and dry the blanks in a centrifuge.